Chinese Student Sells Kidney For iPad

A surgeon and four other people are on trial in central China
over the case of a teenager who is said to have sold a kidney to
buy an iPhone and
iPad 2,
state media has reported.

The state-run China Daily newspaper said that 18-year-old Wang
Shangkun is in serious condition after receiving an illegal
transplant operation last year.

The five people on trial stand accused of intentional injury and
illegal organ trading over the removal and sale of the organ and
face three to 10 years in prison if convicted, the paper said.

A woman who answered the phone at the Beihu district people's
court in the city of Chenzhou, Hunan province, said that the
trial was in session Friday, though offered no details. She
declined to give her name.

Citing court documents, the China Daily said that Wang agreed to
sell his kidney after contacting an illegal agency online.

Wang's mother, Ou Linchun, told the court that her son did not
sell his kidney to purchase the Apple
devices.

"My son was tempted by the illegal organ traders and might have
been afraid of getting caught with such a large amount of money,
so he bought a cell phone and a tablet PC," she said, according
to the paper.

The kidney was sold for 150,000 yuan ($23,600) and $10,000 in
cash, though Wang received just 22,000 yuan, the paper said.

Separately, the Changsha Evening News reported that a
representative of Wang was seeking 2.77 million yuan in
compensation from the five defendants, medical staff who
participated in the surgery, a hospital and a medical investment
company.

Authorities said earlier this month that Chinese police arrested
137 people, among them doctors, suspected of trafficking human
organs in a nationwide crime ring that profited from the huge
demand for transplants.